You’re Fired. Hire Yourself.

Have you ever been terminated from a job that was not by your choice? Perhaps it was just a corporate lay-off, or … workforce reduction due to decline in sales. Here’s a little HR secret. We sometimes terminate an employee, and tell them it was a downsizing, … let’s keep this confidential as to not ruin your future job prospecting efforts, and it really was just a bold face lie to get rid of an employee. Oh sure he/she will get unemployment, but that is why the company has unemployment insurance. Technically almost everyone is employee at will, that is if they get a W2 form. This means you can be terminated for no reason and you as the employee have no recourse. Right now, I know there are millions of people who are unemployed or as I like to say, looking for a better tomorrow. I actually thought that would be a good name for a book. BUT people don’t read books, they read blogs.

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So, now that you are unemployed, underemployed, or just living off the government as long as you can … at some point you will need to think about some type of income to keep that lifestyle of yours going. Last I checked almost every fast food restaurant is starting people at almost $15 an hour. But in Denver, that is the normal starting wage. Why? Denver is super expensive to live. So the one thing that they never teach you in school is the occupation of being self-employed. Now if you go into a trade school, and get additional education in an area that might require a license, then they “might” kind of teach you about going out on your own. When I was at the Bar Association we actually did a workshop called “Hanging Your Shingle”, which was a 3 day intensive training from other industries to help you start being a small business owner, which is what a lot of lawyers eventually do when they have enough clients … or no clients. Remember, if you have a skill an employer is willing to pay for, then why not still sell that skill to the actual client/customer?

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So, if you were a plumber or a beautician, then you could easily be self employed. You build a Facebook business page, build a website, set your prices for your services and then tell EVERYONE to please use you for _______. Does it always work out that way? Sometimes, yes, it does. Remember the rule of 1000 fans? If you have 1000 loyal, dedicated fans, you can make a living as a self employed … we will say artist (since that is what I am). All you have to do is keep in good communication with those fans and when you produce a new _____ (book, song, painting, digital poster), all of your fans will buy it and you will see a paycheck.

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DeviantArt.com makes it really easy for artists to publish their work. I’ve used it, and I’m on there. Many of my fans have downloaded and purchased my artwork. Wow, how cool is that? Now one of the things about certain fields, is it is really easy to produce ONE item and sell it a million times. Like a song, book or digital artwork. If you are doing one off for each customer, you will have a very limited ability to create a lot of wealth. There are thousands of individuals that become owners or a company and only know how to do their trade, and the things like accounting, legal, HR, marketing, social media, website, payroll, are all outsourced to another company that specializes in it. Some people will start small with some sort of accounting software, others may just use a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to track and document things.

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The reality is you need to register your company name, or sole proprietorship, get a tax ID if you are not doing sole. Get a business checking account. Technically you are ready for business. You can fix someone’s ____ and say “That’ll be $50.” Design someone a logo or business card and charge $75. Cater someone’s wedding and collect a deposit via Paypal after you create a free invoice through their website. Btw, I use Paypal for all my website invoicing. It makes it super easy, looks professional and it emails it to your client, who can turn around and pay you instantly online. Just remember though, if you use Paypal, they take a percentage. If your customer pays by check you keep it all. If you have your website with E-commerce, you can create buttons, packages, items for sale and have it link to Paypal. So maybe you have a subscription or monthly fee you can charge your customers, rather than having them pay all at once. You can do all kinds of things through your website to earn revenue while you are off doing something else. You might be like Ben Shapiro and have EXCLUSIVE content only for subscribers. He is entertaining for sure, but I don’t learn anything from him and I wouldn’t pay to hear more rants and raves. Don’t get me wrong, I really like watching his videos … for free.

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I was once at a seminar and I heard the speaker say that no one would hire him. He had a variety of reasons, but he was overqualified and he was worth too much money. I get it, people used to tell me that because of my MBA. So he said he hired himself and started his own business. HE became the boss, and he went knocking on doors to get customers. Cold calling. It sucks but it works. If you are friendly and like people then this should be easy. Just remember though, prospecting IS just as hard or harder than the work itself. Networking, cold calling, knocking on doors, after hours cocktail networking meetings are all part of the requirements if you want to be self-employed/owner. You might find you work more as the owner than when you were an hourly employee. So one thing to think about is your accounting system. Do you require payment up front? Half now, half when delivered? Send them a bill that is due immediately or 10 days later? Cash, check, charge, Paypal, Venmo, Bitcoin, on favor, pro-bono, charitable contribution?  All of those are possibilities and you need to think about how much finance you need to operate and live successfully. The only person looking out for you is you. Unless you get financing from an investor who you are willing to share your profits forever. That investor might be mom or dad. Whatever you company or trade is, you still need to have a business plan and a marketing plan. These can be Googled for more information, but they are important. Money is always important so don’t go into personal credit card debt. Start small and simple and work your way up, like Bill Gates did.

Your objective this week is to find the dream company that you want to work one day. What do current employees say about it, what do former employees say? Wow, there is a website that you can totally slam your past employer and the HR person reads it. It is called Glassdoor.com. If you are bored, go look up your past jobs and post a review. If you are looking for your dream job, what DO apple employees and Google geeks say? Inquiring minds want to know. Do not apply. Copy and paste that company into a new document. If you are thinking about starting a new business, think about WHO your customers are, and where are you going to find them.

 

 

 

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Entertainment Subscription Websites

How many websites do you pay a monthly fee? Yes, some are for entertainment, like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+, cable, … all of these are things the occupy your time and feed your need for entertainment. I think “most” people are okay with paying for music or video, but when it comes to reading content, they just simply refuse. How many times have you visited Wikipedia and seen the “help us, and donate anything you can” banner? Web hosts and services aren’t free but yet every day people use that website and don’t pay a dime. Why? Surely if you were accessing some information you found valuable you could easily justify the expense. So this is a teaching article, and mostly I am targeting any artist who is self employed, such as myself. So, if you get a 1099, or you send invoices, then this might be you. If you create something that someone can buy, this also might be you. Your customer base/fans love and support you. I watch as “collectors” go crazy when a limited edition anything is released. So maybe things are a little slow for you now. COVID sucks for everyone and networking and art shows, festivals, and other performances are extremely limited. I am willing to bet if you asked your fans/customers for donations, they just might do it. I saw Billy Gilman doing a livestream on Facebook, and just like me, he is an artist that can’t make an income, so he listed his Venmo “tip jar”, and believe it or not, people gave him money. If you aren’t familiar with Venmo, it is an app that you link to your bank account that allows you to transfer money to friends easily and for free. We literally live in a cashless society. Some of us, rely upon customers to make our rent/mortgage. I’ll admit it, I’m one of them. Things are tough for everyone. So if you have a website, or a Facebook page, go to your Venmo app, take a screenshot of your QR code and post it so your fans/supporters can donate to your cause. Here is mine. If you are a long time reader and found one of my articles/blogs helpful, handy, inspiring or just entertained you and took you away from this nasty world for a few moments, then do me a favor and help me out. Did I help you out with a job issue? HR situation? WordPress or website ah ha? Btw, if you are running WordPress there is a new core out and you need to upgrade. Did you close a sale, get a new job, new customer, or negotiate a better salary because of something you learned from this site? Is that worth the equivalent of buying me a drink or a dinner? For my fans/readers who have already told me they want to support me, this blog is for you. And if you are also an artist, you should be putting your Venmo code out there too. People generally are good heart-caring people. So put your code out there, and maybe if you get a donation, you can share the information with your circle to do the same, and then hit me up with a donation for teaching you something new and creating some income for you.
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When I was in college, I was the VP of Finance for the American Marketing Association for the University chapter. Fancy title huh? Yeah, it actually came in very handy when I interviewed for jobs years later. A lot of interviewers wanted to know what all that big fancy title entailed, and of course I was happy to talk, and talk, and talk. I partnered with dozens businesses amassing thousands of dollars in “door prizes”. I was amazed how easy it was to ask for gift certificates, prizes, food … and businesses gave it without hesitancy. I called it active fundraising and partnership affiliate marketing. I also had check signing rights, and held a pretty heft budget for college organization. Little did I know that simply asking for money was a real job in the real world. Some places call it grant writing … again asking for money. Later in life I used that valuable skill to get companies to pay for something called “Sponsorships”, so their name would be advertised prominently to a captive audience. Gold, Silver, Bronze levels … honestly was the biggest con ever. Oh yay, your name is on all the ____ at the event. You get a table and a banner (that you provide).

 

A thousand thank you’s for my long time readers/supporters. Post your Venmo code. Start your fairy garden today. YouTube has fairy music that you can play to attract fairies.

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